File fastener



Jan. 18, 193%. w. LANG 2,105,836

FILE FASTENER Filed May 23, 1936 8 7 2 7 v v 7 4 21-22: fi g 4 6 2 /2 4INVENTOR 1 J (Uilliam Lang I4QLATTORNEY Patented Jan. 18, 1938 FILEFASTENER William Lang, West Orange, N. .L, assignor to The BatesManufacturing Company, West -r-' ange, N. 1., a. corporation of NewJersey Application Mayv 23, 1936, Serial .No. 81,448. V

8 Claims. (01. 129-25) My invention rel-ates to file fasteners,especially those of the type used for binding and securingtogetherperforated and superimposed sheets of papersuch, for example, asthose which .5 make up ordinary correspondence files.

A common. form of this type of file fastener comprises an elongated baseor; clamping member having. bendable tongues or prongs at or adja-. centits ends and an elongated keeper or com- 10 pressor plate over and downagainst which the free end portions of said tongues, after thelate terhave been inserted through the sheets tobe secured together, aredesigned to be bent thereby to hold the keeper and clamping member in'op15 erative clamping relation with respect to said sheets. In using sucha fastener, the compressor plate. or keeper is sometimes dispensed with,in which case the end portion of. the tongues of the base or clampingmember, after insertion. of said so tongues through the sheets'to besecured are bent down directly against, the uppermost .of such sheets.While my invention is-applicable to various forms of fasteners, thesameis especially designed for application to fasteners of the 25 generalconstruction just described. q

The principal object of my invention is to provide an improvedconstruction and arrangement whereby the capacity of a file fastener ofthe character described may readily be increased.

Another object of my invention is to provide a construction whereby thecapacity of sucha file fastener may be readily increased a plurality oftimes and to any desired extent.

. A further object of my invention isto provide means whereby thecapacity of such a .file fastener may be increased at any time withoutdisturbing or removing any of the sheets then held by the fastener.

A still further object is to provide a simple 40 and novel form ofadapter or extension device capable of being quickly and readily appliedto the flexible or bendable tongues of file fasteners of the characterabove described to increase the effective length of such tongues andthereby the 45 capacity of the fasteners.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be hereinafter morespecifically described, and the novel features thereof will be set forthin the appended claims.

For a better understanding of my invention,

attention is directed to the drawing which accompanies and forms part ofthis specification and in which:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation partly in sec,

55 tion and partly broken away, showing a file fastener-as usedinsecuring together superimposed sheets of a filesubstantially to thefull normal capacity thereof;

Figure:2,isa view; similar to Figure 1 with the compressor plate orkeeper of the file fastener p5; omitted, illustrating the application ofmy improved adapters or. extension devices tothe tongues of. the base orclamping member of the fastener;

Figure 3 is aview similar to. Figure 1 showing a file fastener thecapacity of which has been increased by the application of an adapter toeach tongue of the clamping member, as used in securing together sheetsof a file substantially to the limit'of its. increased capacity;

v Figure l is a sectional view taken online 4-4 of Figure 2, with, thesuperimposed file sheets omitted; and a v Figure 5,. is a view similarto Figure 4, taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3.. v 1 7 In the several viewsof the drawing, like parts are designated by the same referencecharacters.

A common form .of file fastener is shown in Figure 1, such fastenerpreferably being formed of thin sheet metal andcomprising a clampingmember having a substantiallyrectangular base portion ,1 and flexible orbendable fiat tongues or prongs .2, and a substantially rectangularkeeper .'or com pressor plate 3. The tongues v2 of the clamping memberare shown asintegrally joined to thebase portion I at its ends, and inthe use of the fastener said tongues are bent so asto project from thebase portion at right angles thereto in'spaced parallel relation andextended through similarlyspaced openings 4 and 5 respectively providedin the superimposed file sheets 6 tobe secured together and in thekeeper'3 overlying and bearing against the uppermost of said sheets, andthe upper projecting end portions. 2 are then bent down against the 40keeper, as shown at the left in Figure 1. If the use of the keeper 3isdispensed with, the end portions 2' of the tongues may be bent down ineitherdirection against the uppermost of the sheets 6 to thereby holdsuch sheets together.

In Figure 1, the fastener is shown as securing together superimposedsheets substantially to its full normal capacity. In order to increasethe capacity of. such a fastener to any desired extent overthe normalcapacity thereof, I have provided a simple but novel form of adapter orextension device one or more of which may be supported by each of thetongues of the fastener clamping member to increase the effective lengthof said tongues and which may be readily applied 5 effective length ofthe tongues.

this tongue portion 8 when the adapter is of the form in which it isdesigned to be used, extend-" ing from the point of connection thereofwith the socket portion 1 at an angle, preferably sub.-; stantially aright angle, to said socket portion.-

The tongue engaging or socket p rtion and tongue portion of each suchadapter are preferably integrally formed from a singlethin piece ofsuitable metal. The socket of the portion 1 of each such adapter ispreferably of such dimensions as to receive one of the tongues 2 of thefastener for which it is designed with-the opposite side walls of thesocket in frictional engagement with said tongue; and the fiat tongueportion 8 of the adapter is preferably of the same width and thicknessas each of the fastener tongues and may be of the same length as orlonger or shorter than the latter. The tongue portions of the adaptersherein disclosed are somewhat shorter than the fastener tongues. I

When a file fastener has been filled to its normal capacity with thepapers of a file, as shown in Figure 1, and it is desired to increasethe capacity thereof so that more sheets may be added to the file, theend portion 2' of each of the tongues is bent upwardly from itshorizontal holding position until it is in alignment with the mainportion of the tongue. The keeper 3, if used, is now removed from itsengagement with the tongues 2, and an adapter such as above described,is then applied to the end portion 2' of each of said tongues by movingthe socket portion I of the adapter, whilesaid socket portion ismaintained in a vertical position with the end thereof from which thetongue portion 8 extends directed towardsthe file sheets 6, downwardlyover such end portion until the said tongue portion 8 is brought to thathorizontal position in which it engages the uppermost file sheet. Theadapters may each be thus applied with its tongue portion 8 extendingeither outwardly from the respective tongue 2 (as in the case of theadapter shown at the right side of Figure 2) or in the oppositedirection, that is, inwardly from the said tongue. After suchapplication of an adapter to one of the tongues 2 of the clampingmember, the socket portion 1 thereof is grasped and moved angularly (asindicated, for example, by the arrow A in Figure 2) down against theuppermost of the. sheetsv 6. In this operation the. end portion 2' ofthe tongue 2 to which the adapter is applied is, of course, bent back toa horizontal position adjacent the top sheet 6, and the tongue portion 8of the adapter is brought to a. vertical position in alignment with themain vertical p'or tion of the said tongue 2.

When adapters such, as described have been thus applied to both tonguesof the fastener clamping member and angularly positioned as described,the result is a modified fastener device of much greater capacity thanthe original fastener, this being due, of course, to the increased Asshown .in Figure 3, there may now be'added to the original file sheets 6any desired number of sheets 6 within the capacity of the extensions tothe tongues 2 provided by the tongue portions 8 of the adapters. Thesheets 6 are perforated as indicated at 4', in the. same manner as thesheets 6. The added sheets are secured in place either by bending theupper projecting end portions 8 of the adapter tongues downdirectlyagainst the uppermost of said sheets or by positioning thekeeper 3 on top of the sheets with the spaced openings 5 of the keeperengaged by the said end portions 8 and then bending the latter downagainst the keeper.

If it is desired toincrease the capacity of the modified fastener deviceshown in Figure 3, this may be accomplished merely by applying anotheradapter of the type herein described, to the portion 8 of each of theadapters already incorporated in such modified fastener. Still furtherincreases in the capacity of such fastening device may be effected in asimilar manner.

What I claim is: 1. The combination with a file fastener clamping membercomprising a base section, and tongues having portions extendingangularly from the base section in spaced relation through Sheets to besecured together and end portions bent down over said sheets, of a pairof separate and independent extension devices for said tonguesrespectively, each of said devices comprising an engaging portionapplied to the bent end portion of one of said tongues and a portionextending from said engaging portion substantially in the same plane asand in alignmentwith the angularly extending portion of the said one ofsaid tongues.

2. The combination with a file fastener clamping member comprising apair of spaced flat tongues having sheet engageable portions extendingin substantially parallel relation through sheets to be secured togetherand bent end portions overlying said sheets; of a pair of separate andindependent extension devices for said tongues respectively, each ofsaid devices comprising an engaging portion removably applied to thebent end portion of one of said tongues anda fiat tongue portionextending from said engaging portion at an angle thereto andsubstantially in thesame plane as and in alignment with the sheetengageable portion of the said one of said tongues.

3. The combination with a file fastener clamping member comprising apair of tongues having spaced sheet engageable portions extending insubstantially parallel relation through sheets to be secured togetherand end portions bent angularly with respect to said engageable portionsand overlying said sheets, of a pair of extension devices for saidtongues respectively, each of said devices comprising a socket portionengaged by the bent end portion of one of said tongues and a tongueportion extending angularly from said socket portion and substantiallyin alignment with the sheet engageable portion of the said one of saidtongues.

4. The combination with a file fastener clamping member comprising atongue having a sheet engageable portion extending through sheets to besecured together and an end portion bent angularly with respect to saidengageable portion and overlying said sheets, of an extension device forsaid tongue comprising an engaging portion removably and frictionallysecured to the bent end portion of said tongue and a tongue portionextending angularly from said engaging portion and substantially in thesame plane as and in alignment with the sheet engageable portion of saidtongue.

5. The combination with a file fastener clamping member comprising atongue having a sheet engageable portion extending through sheets to besecured together and an end portion bent angularly with respect to saidengageable portion and overlying said sheets, of an extension device forsaid tongue comprising a socket portion engaging over the bent endportion of said tongue and a tongue portion extending angularly fromsaid socket portion and substantially in alignment with the sheetengageable portion of said tongue.

6. An extension device for a tongue of a file fastener clamping member,comprising a portion telescopically engageable with the end portion ofsaid tongue and a bendable tongue portion connected with said engageableportion and extending from its point of connection therewithsubstantially at a right angle thereto.

7. An integral extension member for a tongue of a file fastener clampingmember, comprising a fiat socket portion engageable over the end portionof said tongue and a flat bendable tongue portion connected to one endof said socket portion and extending from said end substantially at aright angle to the socket portion.

8. A file fastener adapter or extension device comprising a flatbendable tongue section adapted to be inserted through superimposedsheets to be secured together, and a socket section con- I nected tosaid tongue section and extending from its point of connection therewithsubstantially at a right angle thereto said socket section being adaptedto receive and frictionally engage the end portion of a tongue similarto said tongue section.

WILLIAM LANG.

